I posted this statement on various websites when it happened, but when a book causes me to swear vehemently at it for the last half, and then force me after finishing it to lay facedown on my bed saying: Ican’tican’tican’tican’t over and over again. That is a sure sign that it is a great book. I was actually a little bit worried about this one at the beginning, mostly because I was worried that it would succumb to the trilogy problem of the second book. This book also introduces something of a love triangle so I was really worried about that as well (1. Because I don’t really like love triangles much, and 2. Having the love triangle introduced in the second book is an interesting tactic that I wasn’t sure would actually work.) I can assure you, however, that this book does not disappoint. In fact, in some ways it’s better. This book takes place in England, away from Hex Hall. Sophie, Jenna and Cal are taken by Sophie’s father to England. Mostly to keep Sophie safe over the summer, but there are other reasons as well. Like I said before, something of a love triangle is introduced in this book. Except, it’s kind of not. Like, in Prodigium society witches and warlocks are betrothed, except they don’t necessarily have to go through with those betrothals if they don’t want to. So, yes, Cal and Sophie are betrothed. Except she’s not really interested and aside from a few sweet moments they share, it’s pretty obvious she’s still in love with Archer - the warlock who works for the anti-Prodigium group. Which is good. Because I adore Archer. Really I do. In a lot of recent YA books, the bad boy type is attempted and fails miserably. But Archer does a pretty good job of it (he also is a toned down version of the evil!boyfriend trope. And we all know how much I adore that trope). He doesn’t make as many appearances in this book as in the previous one, but when he is in the story it’s pretty great.In essence, Sophie is taken to the current Council headquarters in England, were she meets two other demon kids - Nick and Daisy (oh, Nick. I couldn’t help comparing him to Nick Ryves, my dear favourite demon/human from The Demon’s Lexicon.) She was under the impression that her family were the only ones who were actually demons, but then she meets these kids. Her father then explains to her that Nick and Daisy were created much like Sophie’s ancestor, Alice, and he was searching for a way to reverse the process. Now, ok, I was a bit put out - I guess - about the fact that Sophie gets along so well with her absentee father. I mean, I’m not entirely sure that it would work like that. I didn’t mind that she got along really well with him, because I thought he was a great character. I guess I just wanted a little more teenage abandonment angst. Then again, Sophie isn’t an angsty character so I guess that does explain that. During the course of the summer, though, Sophie (with the help of Archer) discovers a plot that could prove even more dangerous to the Prodigium than both their current enemies combined. Then, I mean, just as a note I spent the entire last 50 pages swearing at the pages. Because the ending is AMAZING. I really like the pacing of these books. The endings are just complete rushes of action and it’s great. I also wasn’t expecting the end at all so that was just great.Also Rachel Hawkins is one of us (the infected few who watched Hex and spawned these kinds of novels) so, basically, she’s the greatest and I really would like to meet her. To sob about Hex, mostly.
